Updated: Council denied retraction in CFIB report

Turner Valley was denied its request for a retraction in a report that lists the town of 2,500 plus people as one of the biggest spenders in Alberta.

The Town was ranked 137^th in the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ (CFIB) Alberta Municipal Spending Watch Report, which reveals trends in operating spending amongst Alberta communities from 2006 to 2016.

Mayor Gary Rowntree called the report skewed, saying it should not have included $13.9 million that was transferred from the municipality to the Sheep River Regional Utility Corporation (SRRUC) in 2016.

The corporation is a partnership between Black Diamond, Turner Valley and Foothills County formed after the 2013 flood, which destroyed Black Diamond’s water treatment plant and most wells in both towns. Turner Valley’s water treatment plant now supplies water to both towns.

“Turner Valley paid for all of the infrastructure originally,” said Rowntree. “When SCRUCC was formed between Black Diamond, Turner Valley and the MD the other two municipalities had to compensate Turner Valley for that. It certainly was not operating costs of the municipality.”

Amber Ruddy, CFIB Alberta director, said a letter went to Rowntree today denying the Town’s request.

“We do recognize there were a number of municipalities hit in the flood,” she said. “There is a whole appendix that has the municipalities hit by the flood. We’re not going to be redoing the rankings for this year.”

Ruddy said CFIB approached the Town about a month before the report was released asking for clarification regarding the $13.9 million.

“At that time they couldn’t really give a detailed or comprehensive explanation,” she said. “We’ve been trying to work with them to have these discussions.”

Ruddy said the report promotes discussions around municipal spending.

“The reason we do these reports is businesses say the cost of local government is a big concern,” she said. “We want to continue to have these discussions, but at this point we won’t be reissuing the report.”

Rowntree expressed concern the report could be detrimental to Turner Valley’s future.

“It’s an important piece of information because if you’re seeking either commercial investment or people are looking to move here, and if they see a ranking like that, it could affect our ability to grow,” he said. “It’s fine when houses are a little less expensive, but if your taxes are the worst in the province, which is what they’re insinuating, it sure hinders our ability as a municipality or a region to be able to grow in the areas we would like, which is both commercial as well as on the residential side.”

Putting the $13.9 million aside, council discussed how it can improve its spending in response to the report at its Monday night council meeting.

“We still have work to do,” Rowntree told council. “We have to decide as a small town what level of services we want.”

Among the report’s recommendation for improvement were limiting spending, contracting services to the private sector, establishing sustainable wages and creating a contingency fund for natural disasters, Coun. Cindy Holladay told council.

“The recommendations seem to be recommendations they make every year,” she said. “Some we’ve addressed in the strategic planning, but we haven’t talked too much about contingency plans for natural disasters.”

Coun. Garry Raab said it’s important that council listen to its critics and take the suggestions seriously. He said it’s what makes municipalities better.

“I think there are suggestions in this report that are criticisms of us and other municipalities like us,” he said. “Coun. Holladay keeps saying we need to put more money aside for reserves. It (the report) was loud and clear that we need to have a contingency fund for everything.”

Coun. Jonathan Gordon agreed there’s still work to do.

“I believe in fiscal accountability, using the money we have in our hands wisely,” he said. “We are still not where we should be for a town of our size. We need to work a whole lot smarter in specific areas.”

It begins with the 2019 budget, Coun. Barry Crane told council.

Council recently requested administration cut approximately $200,000 from its operating expenses to balance the budget, rather than using the Town’s operating reserve account.

With Okotoks ranking second, Crane said the Town could be a shining beacon of information for Turner Valley.

Coun. Lana Hamilton agreed, saying Turner Valley could, one day, celebrate the same success.

“I don’t see how we can’t take this under advisement and work with administration to see how we can continue to improve so next time 10 years from now when they do this report we can be one of the leaders,” she said.